Green Foothills is excited to announce that Megan Fluke, our Executive Director, will be speaking this Saturday at Santa Clara University’s Climate and Environmental Justice Conference, on the closing panel: “Sustaining Meaning and Money in Partnerships for Environmental Justice.” She will be joined by longtime Green Foothills friend and Leadership Program alumna Violet Wulf-Saena, and other speakers.

The conference calls for transformational change in response to human and ecological suffering associated with systemic injustices and the accelerating impacts of climate change. It promotes the idea that universities can do more to partner with faith-based and secular institutions to co-produce actionable knowledge and social change with frontline communities.

The conference will advance the work of organizing community-university alliances and partnerships to promote climate and environmental justice in Northern California, across Latin America, and throughout Jesuit higher education.

Megan has served as Executive Director of Green Foothills since 2013 and has since deepened the impact and grown the organization with a focus on ethics and partnership. Megan received the Greenbelt Alliance Champion Award in 2018 and the Santa Clara County Women’s Leadership Policy Summit’s Collaboration Award in 2023 in recognition for her leadership at Green Foothills.

Megan is a community organizer at heart and fiercely believes in the power of people working together to effect change. Her proudest accomplishments at Green Foothills include:

• Her contribution on the campaign to protect thousands of acres of open space in Coyote Valley in south San Jose.
• Launching Green Foothills’ Leadership Program, which has over 240 graduates who are advancing conservation and environmental justice locally.
• Creating the Tribal Partnership Project, a capacity-building initiative for local tribes and their associated land trusts as an early effort toward broader and longer term allyship and solidarity work between Indigenous peoples with the conservation community. Through this program Green Foothills has raised nearly $200,000 for local tribes and indigenous-serving groups.
• Launching Green Foothills’ Healing in Nature outings, inspired by Chairman Valentin Lopez of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, who challenges both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to heal their relationship with themselves, with one another, and with the earth. The outings bring people of all ages, abilities, and interests together for rich, meditative experiences in nature while building a sense of camaraderie and trust among participants.

Megan’s proudest accomplishment is the home she has created with her partner and their three children who care for one another and the people and living beings around them.

I have been fortunate to experience Megan’s leadership and seen her inspire her team and the community at large at events like Nature’s Inspiration and Green Foothills’ team offsite.